between the houses, while the humans are occupying the roofs, the horde of watch-dogs being depended upon to keep watch and ward over everything.  The hovels are more underground than above the surface, and often, when the village occupies sloping ground, the upper edge of the roof is practically but a continuation of the solid ground, or at the most there is but a single step-up between them.  The goats are of course permitted to wander whithersoever they will, and equally, of course, they abuse their privileges by preferring the roofs to the ground and wandering incessantly about among the sleepers.  Where the roof comes too near the ground some temporary obstruction is erected, to guard against the intrusion of venturesome buffaloes.  No sooner have the humans quieted down, than several goats promptly invade the roof, and commence their usual nocturnal promenade among the prostrate forms of their owners, and further indulge their well-known goatish propensities by nibbling away the edges of the roof. (They would, of course, prefer a square meal off a patchwork quilt, but from their earliest infancy they are taught that meddling with the bedclothes will bring severe punishment.) A buffalo occasionally gives utterance to a solemn, prolonged " m-o-o-o;” now and then a baby wails its infantile disapproval of the fleas, and frequent noisy squabbles occur among the dogs.  Under these conditions, it is not surprising that one should woo in vain the drowsy goddess; and near midnight some person within a few yards of my couch begins groaning fearfully, as if in great pain — probably a case of the stomach-ache, I mentally conclude, though this hasty conclusion may not unnaturally result from an inner consciousness of being better equipped for curing that particular affliction than any other.  From the position of the sufferer, I am inclined to think it is the same ancient party that ousted me out of her possessions two hours ago, and I lay here as far removed from the realms of unconsciousness as the moment I retired, expecting every minute to see her appear before me in a penitential mood, asking me to cure her, for the inevitable hakim question had been raised during the evening.  She doesn’t present herself, however; perhaps the self-accusations of her conscience, for having in the moment of her wrath attempted to appropriate my coverlet in so rude a manner, prevent her appealing to me now in the hour of distress.  These people are early risers; the women are up milking the goats and buffaloes before daybreak, and the men hieing them away to the harvest fields and threshing-floors.  I, likewise, bestir myself at daylight, intending to reach the next village before breakfast.

CHAPTER XIV.

ACROSS THE KIZIL IRMAK RIVER TO YUZGAT.